Senator Niguidula explains leadership roles

Hello everyone, this week’s top hat is written by Greg Niguidula, Class of 2015 Senator and Treasurer for the Student Senate. I would like to wish everyone good health—there are many viruses and sicknesses going around, one that I myself have been unfortunate enough to catch.

Hey everyone, I hope your Election Day was, um, democratic? Anyways, I’ve been hearing a lot of talk around campus about who would be a better leader, who has the better plan, and so on. This is a very good thing, because it means that you guys aren’t the apathetic shut-ins I’ve been told you are. But now that it’s all over, you have nothing to argue about with your roommate, and Saturday Night Live won’t have any funny skits for another four years, I invite you to start thinking about the direction and leadership of your student government. Believe it or not, we have more of an effect on some aspects of your life than anyone up in Washington. It wasn’t the mayor of Troy who brought strawberries to the Commons Dining Hall waffles, it was your classmate, Russell Brown ’14; it wasn’t President Barack Obama who suggested that parking security be increased, it was Allison Feldman ’14; and it wasn’t an Act of Congress that replaced the Java++ Café with Moe’s, it was the Senate working with input from the entire student body.

If you’re still not convinced, think about this: the Senate actually listens to you and goes out of its way to get your ideas. Recently, we senators went into Commons to have conversations with anyone unfortunate enough to have extra room at their table. In all seriousness, the suggestions we got were excellent, and I’d like to thank everyone who let a couple strangers sit down with them to pick their brains. Some of your ideas are already being investigated.

Obviously, there are still plenty of good ideas out there and plenty of problems on campus we haven’t heard about, but we have several more opportunities this semester for you to tell them to us in person. Q-and-A with the Senate will be held in Mother’s on November 14, during which you can give us your questions, complaints, and comments while making your own free sundaes. Those that live in freshmen residence halls may also see us during our residence hall programs.

Even if you can’t make these events, feel free to email us at justask@rpi.edu the next time you see something strange, unpleasant, or dangerous around campus. Instead of going on Facebook and posting a whiny status (let’s be honest, none of your friends actually care about your problems when they’re too busy whining about their own) complain to us! It’s basically our job, and for some reason, we like it.